Seven Days of Cat-sitting
by RaspberriCloud
Summary: Mikan wasn't expecting to have an exciting march break. But cat-sitting Natsume's heartless, tabby tom? That seemed totally out of the question. Unfortunately for our lovely brunette, nothing is really 'out of the question' where she's concerned. Mikan soon realizes she's got more than she bargained for, and becomes determined to cat-sit her way, no matter how crazy it may seem.
1. Chapter 1

"I need you to look after my cat."

Those eight words sent me into total shock. The ham sandwich I was eating lodged itself in my throat causing me to cough _very_ loudly. A bunch of people looked over at us curiously. I however, stared at the crimson eyed boy in front of me with an incredulous look on my face.

"What the hell?" The words escaped my lips before I had time to think about what I was saying. If it felt awkward before, well, now it felt like half the cafeteria was staring at me.

"Shutup idiot," Natsume hissed. If this was happening back in our elementary years I'd probably retort with some nasty comment and hit him over the head with the nearest hard object. But I wasn't in elementary school any more, I was in high school. I understood why Natsume wanted me to be quiet. You see, a lot of people were confused about our relationship status. I had heard plenty of rumors that we were dating (to which I gaged almost every time). Personally, I'd like to think of the two of us as use to be rivals with a very unusual bond of friendship. Back in the days Natsume was like the witch of the west sprinkling trouble and miss fortune on my life. However we were able to get over our squabble during the beginning of high school. A couple years ago our relationship was bumped up from neutral to semi almost friends. From there we just grew closer and closer. But back to the main story, he asked me to babysit his cat. I choked and questioned his sanity.

"I'm going on a family road trip over the March break," Natsume explained.

"Ok, fine, but why do you need me to do it?" I asked.

"Tsubasa has a basketball tournament, Koko and Kitsume are completely out of the question after nearly killing Ruka's rabbit, and Ruka is coming with me."

I lifted one of my eyebrows at Natsume. "I thought you said it was a family road trip."

"Polka, I've known Ruka since Kindergarten, he's like the second son my dad almost wanted." I chuckled at that last part.

"Ok, fine, but you'll have to pay me."

"I'm broke."

"Then get a job."

"It's not like you have a job."

"Yes I do, I'm taking care of _your_ cat. So you have to pay me."

Natsume let out a sigh of defeat and said, "Twenty."

"Forty."

"Twenty five."

"Thirty five."

"Thirty."

"Fine."

"Good, come by my place after school and I'll show you what to do." Natsume smirked then rose to his feet. "See you later then," he said gruffly.

"Yeah, bye," I answered back.

=^^= ONE =^^=

Honestly speaking, this wasn't the first time I had visited the famous Hyuuga's house. Heck, we had movie nights a couple times a month. Last time we watched The Crazies. I was actually able to piss Natsume off by constantly reminding him how much better looking Joe Anderson was. He got back at me for telling me that the water in the area was tested and actually proved to drive people crazy. I refused to drink tap water afterward, that is, until Natsume told me it was all a joke. Some moron he his. Anyway, Aoi wasn't surprised to see a slightly annoyed brunette holding a green tea right outside her door. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Aoi is Natsume's totally adorable sister who is currently trying to rid herself from the 'cute' label. According to Natsume she is going through 'mid teen girl emotions syndrome' or in other words, puberty.

"Mikan! It's so nice to see you!" Aoi shrieked.

"Aw, you too! And you look as cute as ever!" I teased. Aoi's cheeks flared up an angry shade of red as she tried and failed to hide her embarrassment.

"I am no longer a cute little child. I am entering womanhood and therefore I will not be called cute."

"Yeah, whatever," I giggled while ruffling Aoi's hair.

"Would you two please save my ears a trip to the doctor?" A voice called from upstairs.

Aoi turned her head around and yelled back, "Look who's talking! Why don't you come speak to me where I am?"

"Bottom line, shutup," The voice yelled back.

"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!" Aoi replied. I chuckled; I was being surrounded by sibling love. Natsume appeared up above from a hallway leading to the bedrooms. He headed down the stairs to my right, looking very annoyed.

"Aren't you glad you're an only child?" Natsume asked almost mockingly at the bottom of the stairs. The corners of my mouth twitched a bit but I gave Natsume a light punch.

"Honestly, you need someone besides me to keep you on track and Aoi is doing a perfect job of that."

Natsume smirked then turned down the hall. The Hyuuga house in general was really nice. It was a spacious house with two floors and a finished basement. The décor gave off a sophisticated modern feel without making the house seem too formal. I followed Natsume down the hall and into the mud room. Two bowls sat in front of a small wash area. It was one of those sink like things that sat on the ground and had a small hose in it.

"This is the food bucket," Natsume said while kicking a blue tupperware container. "There's a scoop inside it. Feed Charlie one scoop twice a day."

"Wait, wait. Did you say, _twice _a day? Because I am not coming here twice a day for one week. No way no way," I replied. Natsume rolled his eyes.

"Come on polka, it's not _that _hard. Hey maybe if you got out of your house a bit more you could lose some weight."

I glared at Natsume as if I was going to kill him with my eyes. "I am not fat for your information!"

"Make sure that Charlie always has enough water." Natsume continued as if nothing had happened. "You don't have to worry about the litter box or anything else. Got it?" I nodded my head slowly and looked around.

"So that's really all I have to do? No playing with him and making sure he's not lonely or anything?"

Natsume gave me a funny look than snorted in amusement. "Charlie won't let anyone but me touch him. He'll most likely hide until you're gone so you don't have to worry."

Something inside my head twitched in annoyance. I felt like Natsume had once told me something important about his cat but I couldn't remember what it was. _Think, think,_ I thought. Oh yeah! Natsume had found the cat on the street a number of years ago. At the time he was all flesh and bones so Natsume took him in. Poor cat, he was probably so lonely before Natsume found him.

"So when do I start?" I asked.

"We are leaving on Friday so your first day will be Saturday. Your last day will be the following friday. Got it?"

"Yup," I replied. This was going to be one boring march break.


	2. Chapter 2

Saturday

I hopped up the stairs in front of Natsume's house and pulled a key out of my jacket pocket. The weather was getting warmer so I had discarded my winter coat and tried my spring jacket. It was a bit windy but the front porch was protected me so it wasn't too bad. I put the key in the lock, turned it and pushed the door open. The familiar scent of febreeze wafted up to me. Natsume once told me his dad had a scented chemical addiction. At the time I laughed it off but now I had little doubt he was telling the truth.

I kicked of my boots and hung my coat on the stair railing. Within a minute I was in the mud room and opening the container of cat food. A light jingling sound filled my ears. I turned around and was surprised to see a grey tabby halfway down the hallway.

"Hey Charlie," I cooed. I stood up and took a step forward. Charlie hissed and scampered off in the opposite direction. A sigh escaped my lips. I know Natsume told me not to bother playing with the cat but I couldn't help feel a singe of disappointment. Charlie had been right in front of me. A pang of sympathy ran through me. As an only child, I knew how lonely sitting around an empty house could be. And that's when I decided that no matter how hard it was, no matter how many scratches and bites I got, I was going become friends with Natsume Hyuuga's cat. Now what was I forgetting? Oh yeah, the food. I turned back to the bucket and filled the food bowl with one scoopful. The water bowl was still full so I didn't bother with it. I got up and looked around. Was that really all I had to do? Well that was simple.

I headed back down the hall and into the living room. I stopped when I noticed a blob of fluffiness lying on the floor. A small smile flickered on my lips. I didn't want to startle Charlie so I just sat down and watched him. Surprisingly, the cat didn't seem to know I was there. Either that or he was simply ignoring me (which kind of hurt my pride). I watched in semi amusement as Charlie stretched out and rolled over. However he paused when he saw me sitting on the floor. Charlie's ear twitched, I bent my head to the side very do slightly, and he meowed. I wondered if Charlie would run away again if I tried talking to him. Well, it was worth a shot.

"Hey there little fellow." Charlie stood up but stayed where he was. Well this was going better already!

"You don't have to be afraid of me," I continued. "I'm not going to hurt you, in fact, I want to be your friend." If Charlie could understand I word I was saying, he wasn't showing it. I decided to take a gamble and rose to my feet. I then started walking over to the tabby Tom. Charlie didn't seem to like the change in movements because he bolted away before I walked a meter. Disappointment filled my brain but I decided to give up for now. I had a whole week to make friends with this cat and this surly wasn't the end of it.

=^^=TWO=^^=

I swung the Hyuuga door open for the second time that day. After taking off my boots and jacket I walked into the kitchen and threw some mail onto the kitchen counter.

"Cat, it's time to be fed," I yelled to the house. Not that I was expecting an answer.

I walked into the mud room and filled the food bowl with cat food. Then I walked over to the stairs and sat down. You see, while I sat in my house and wasted the first day of my March break, I came up with a plan. Since the cat ran away every time I tried to approach him, I would wait for him to come to me. The only problem was I wasn't sure how I would do that. Charlie had done it earlier but it seemed like a simple fluke.

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft jingling sound. I stood up and saw a small body emerge from the basement stairs. Charlie's cat bell on his collar kept ringing until he stopped walking. Charlie looked around and his eyes met mine. I didn't say a word; instead I returned his stare and didn't move. I'm not sure how long we stood like that but eventually Charlie turned around and walked into the mud room. I sat down as quietly as I could and waited for Charlie to finish his meal. It didn't take too long, maybe a couple minutes. Charlie sat back and started to lick his paws. I watched intently waiting for him to get up. It turns out that Charlie takes grooming very seriously. I nearly fell asleep waiting for that cat but eventually he got up. I almost jumped for joy when Charlie rose to his feet but was able to restrain myself. I sat patiently, waiting for the cat to come near me. Charlie however did no such thing. He just stood there and looked at me with his big, round, blue eyes. "Oh come on cat, please?" I pleaded. Wait, did I just plead to a cat? Yup, that does it, I've lost my mind. Magically Charlie seemed to understand my plea because he took a careful step toward me.

"Yes, yes! That's good!" I encouraged. Charlie cocked his head slightly and took another step, then another. Slowly the tabby Tom worked his way over to me with small steps. Eventually he was only a few steps away. I slowly raised my hand for him to sniff. Charlie flinched a bit but didn't move.

"Come on," I cooed. However Charlie didn't budge. I tried persuading him several times but it didn't work. Eventually I gave up with a sigh and stared at him.

"You're a really stupid cat, you know that right?" I guess he was able to understand the annoyance in my tone because Charlie hissed quietly. It's probably a good thing he doesn't understand English. I turned my gaze over to the front door. I ran my sight along its white paint and its silver door handle.

"I don't get how Natsume keeps you alive. I mean, do you just ignore him the whole time? That must be pretty lonely. You know, I could understand if that was the case; I'm an only child who gets to sit at home all day, all by myself. Yay. And Natsume complains about having a sister. At least he has someone to talk to when he's bored. I have a stupid wall. It's not a very sociable wall either. It prefers to talk with the dust." And there I went on one of my rants that no one really cared about. But hey, maybe the cat found it interesting enough because he didn't' leave. He stayed right where he was and watched me with his big blue eyes.

"When did Natsume say he found you? Grade six? So that was what, five years ago? I met Natsume a few years before that. The school Hotaru and I attended ran out of money and shut down so we had to transfer to a different school in Grade three. Oh, by the way, Hotaru is my best friend, just in case you're wondering." I don't think Charlie did because he showed no sign of interest whatsoever.

"Well anyway, Grade three was a wicked year. My relationship with your lovely owner was pretty darn bad. I hated him and he loved to pick on me. He didn't even give me a chance! On the first day of school he came up with a horrible nickname for me. Do you know what it was? Polka! He looked down my skirt when I tripped coming in from recess! And he was only eight at the time, eight I tell you!" Charlie meowed and took a couple of steps back. I blushed in embarrassment. I had gotten really loud like normal. Only this time instead of Natsume or Hotaru telling me to shut up I had a cat that retreated.

"_Thanks,_" I murmured sarcastically. Charlie meowed once more and I rolled my eyes.

"Where were we again? Oh yeah, how Natsume is a complete pervert. Right, well the good news is I eventually just accepted it. He still calls me Polka, but I don't care. But back on topic, Grade three was horrible. Natsume always found some way to make my life miserable. Actually, now that I think about it, so did Sumire Shouda. But at least Koko was there to keep her under control. Have I ever told you those two make such a great couple? Wait, I never would have. You're a cat… why am I talking to a cat?"

If Charlie could speak I swear he'd say something like, "I don't know idiot, why are you?" Good thing cats can't retort to your stupid comments.

"You know, I've had enough of talking to animals for one day. I'm leaving." And with that I rose to my feet and put on my jacket. I twirled the house keys around my finger while humming some song. Then I walked to the door, shoved on my shoes and left.

* * *

**So yeah, **sorry for the late update. The chapters of this story arte going to be shorter than my other story; Hunting Blood. Which by they way, will be updated soon! But yeah, hoped you enjoyed that!

-**Update**: I want to thank whoever pointed out the fact that I needed to change to rating for the story. I planned this out a while ago so... I've decided to tone down the language just because this is suppose to be a fluffier story if you know what I mean. Like happy and stuff. So yeah. Although I would like some advice. I'm semi new to this site (It's a not too long story that I'm too lazy to tell you). am writing another story and it will have some coarser language and is bit of gore in it. I'm not sure If I should boost the rating (I have it marked as teen) so yeah, any suggestions?


	3. Chapter 3

Sunday

I sat down on a comfortable piece of tile and pulled out my math homework. It was my second day feeding the damn cat and this time I planned on getting somewhere with our relationship. I peeped a glance over my math textbook and saw Charlie coming up the stairs. He ignored me and headed straight into the mud room, in which I had already filled his bowls. I sighed and started to complete my homework. Have I ever told you I hated math? I mean, I'm horrible at it, absolutely horrible. Natsume occasionally helps me out with my homework if it's particularly hard (which normally constitutes of me banging my forehead against the table and Natsume telling me I'm an idiot) but of course, he won't be much help right now. I scrunched my eyebrows as I thought of an answer for the first question. Of course, as soon as I put my pen to the page my ears were assaulted by a loud ringing noise.

"Shutup phone," I muttered while pulling out my cell. The call display read, _Perverted idiot_. I pressed the accept button and put the phone to my ear.

"What do you want?" I asked grudgingly.

"Don't touch anything," Natsume's voice answered.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"I forgot to tell you before I left but don't touch anything."

"Natsume, I'm here to feed your cat, how do you want me to do that without touching anything?"

"You know what I mean," Natsume replied in an exasperated tone.

"And why should I listen to you?" I asked innocently.

"Because I said so and that's final."

Have I ever mentioned to you that I hated Natsume most of the time?

"Oh yeah? What sort of law is that?"

"A law of the universe." I could almost imagine the smirk plastered across Natsume's face as he spoke, you know, the type of smirk that made you want to throw something at him.

"Natsume, Natsume," I said with a sigh. "Everyone knows that the three laws of the universe are one; Strawberry ice cream is _way_ better than chocolate, two; never give Hotaru anything she could blackmail you with, and three; when something goes wrong, blame the person next to you."

"Well the universe just wrote a new law; don't touch anything."

I was about to reply with a sassy remark when I heard a noise in the background of the call that sounded suspiciously like something falling to the ground.

"Aoi, stop being a klutz!" Natsume yelled.

"Just be quiet for once will yah," A girl's voice replied.

I could hear laughter in the background that sounded like Ruka's and a male's voice say, "Aoi if you break your phone agian I won't be replacing it.

"Yah, I got it dad," Aoi replied

"I'm leaving," Natsume sighed.

"Goodbye idiot," I answered back. There was a beep then the line went silent. I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared down at it for a long while. Years ago there was no way you'd ever hear Natsume say something like 'law of the universe'. To him it was just childish. But Ruka told me recently that he thinks I've been rubbing off on Natsume, and that it was a good thing too. Hm, he was probably right.

I suddenly became aware of the homework in my lap. Talking to Natsume had put me in a good mood, even though all we did was argue (funny how that works out) and I really didn't want that mood to be ruined by a math problem. So instead of actually doing my homework, I saved myself the task of drilling my nails into my head in frustration and packed up my stuff. As I left I took one last look over my shoulder.

Charlie watched me leave.

=^^= THREE =^^=

I swear Charlie didn't move a muscle while I was gone. When I opened the front door later that day I found him staring up at me in the exact same spot.

"Charlie, please, get a life," I muttered to myself while rubbing my temples. I threw my bags down by the stairs and walked into the mudroom. After doing the usual routine I wandered back out into the hallway and pulled out my homework. The math problems were thankfully not that hard. I had them done in twenty minutes without any bruises, or scratches, or any other self-inflicted injuries. I couldn't help but feel successful with myself. Maybe Charlie wanted to come and congratulate me. Why else would he have started to approach me at a pace as slow as a snail? It couldn't be because he wanted to hear more of my random rants that spewed out of my mouth like verbal diarrhea. But hey, why not torture him while I could?

"Hey cat, did you want to hear more about my sad and totally lame life story?" I asked jokingly. Charlie either really did want me to explain my childhood or he didn't understand me because he didn't move, but instead stayed where he was and looked at me with his big, round eyes.

"Well, I told you about grade three last time, didn't I? I guess that would mean that I should start off at grade 4. Let me think for a minute, what happened in grade four…" I twisted my lips to the side the way I normally do when I'm in deep thought. I tapped my fingertips against the cold floor and suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, the school fair!" I shouted out loud.

"Well basically my school had a really cool fair once every four years and each year the fair has a different theme. In grade four there was a Halloween theme, don't ask me why, and there was this big haunted house set up with cool lights and moving doors and everything. The only problem is that the power went out, while I was in it, with Natsume. We were trapped in a room and couldn't get out. Of course, since I was a wimp I was practically crying and what not. Now that I look back it was actually kind of embarrassing, to think, I was _crying _all over Natsume. I think I even hugged him at one point… well there you go, never hug a moron in a haunted house when the power goes out. You'll regret it seven years later." I laughed at myself and twirled one of my famous pigtails. Even though the experience had given Natsume yet another reason to pick on, in the long run I think it really improved our relationship.

I dared a glance over at Charlie. He stayed rooted to the spot like a tree on cold marble tiles.

"Please Charlie, lighten up a bit! I know you probably don't like me very much, or anyone else for that matter, but honestly, you'd be surprised where your friends can come from!"

Still, Charlie was a still as a rock. I sighed and continued on with my lovely grade four year, "What else happened in grade four? Hm... Well that summer I went camping with my parents up near some lake I can't remember the name of. It was a nice lake, the waves were big and the beaches had sand so soft, I swear it felt like heaven. Unfortunately the Hyuuga family also thought it was nice because you know, they just _had _to go up there the same week we were there." I rolled my eyes sarcastically and snorted. I was amazed at how many memories just floated back to me as if I was flipping through an album of long forgotten photos.

"Believe it or not that was actually the first time I met Aoi. You've got to love Aoi, she's like Natsume's exact opposite, loud, cheery, and well…happy. I've been told that she's like me in a lot of ways, just less stupid. But back to our summer story now. Natsume, his sister and his parents were there and well, thing got pretty wild. Natsume's mother was the type of person that could make any situation interesting, even meditation!" I stopped abruptly and let a sad smile slip onto my face. After all this time I still thought of her, even if she wasn't my own mother.

"She really was a great person," I whispered. "Things were going so great that summer; Natsume even started talking to me in a good way, you know, without mentioning all the things I was terrible at." I looked down at my knees and sighed. I knew how hard it had been on Natsume the year after. It really was no wonder that he became as cold as he did.

I was startled from my thought when I heard a soft meow from Charlie. I looked over at him and was surprised to see his big, sad eyes, as if he was genuinely sad. I had read somewhere once that animals could read human emotions, kind of like they had a sixth sense of their own. Maybe that's why Charlie seemed so understanding.

"You would have liked her, Natsume's mom," I said softly. Charlie, although he had no idea what I was saying, lifted a paw and walked toward me. For a second my mind froze as I watched the cat slowly approach me. A heart beat later Charlie stopped and sat down a mere foot away from my leg. I didn't dare move. After a few seconds I realised I was holding my breath and I exhaled rather sharply. Charlie let out the softest mew I have ever heard from a cat then got up and walked past me, rubbing his side against my leg.

I guess Charlie could make friends.


	4. Chapter 4

Monday

I stared at the grey ball in front of me and watched as the colours blurred together. I had done a lot of that today, just staring into nothingness.

"Hey fuzz ball," I said dryly. Charlie gave no response. "Oh at least do _something_," I groaned. Charlie returned my blank gaze without as much of a twitch.

"You know, Talking about Natsume's mom yesterday made me start thinking. It got to the point where I had trouble sleeping. All I could think about was Natsume's red, tear stained face when I saw him sitting beneath that sakura tree in grade five and how horrible it would have been if I were him."

Charlie suddenly raised one of his paws and starting grooming himself. I couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of anger. Here I was, talking about Natsume's dead mother and all Charlie could do was sit around and lick his fuzzy paws. Stupid cat.

"It took me by surprise, when I saw him. Natsume just doesn't strike me as the type of person to cry, but I guess any sane person would have if they were in his position," I said, trying once again to start up a conversation with Charlie. Of course, as soon as I realised that I was trying to start up a conversation with a cat I stopped and gave myself a mental facepalm. So instead of waiting for a reply from Charlie, I went ahead and continued speaking.

"You know how I told you the previous summer went so well right? Well it came as a surprise at the start of grade five when Natsume walked in the door and ignored me. He didn't even tell me to shutup or go away or tell me to be less stupid. He just ignored me. Completely and utterly ignored me. At the time I wasn't sure if I should have been worried or relieved. So yeah, not being called an idiot every five minutes was a bit of a bliss, but the weird thing was, I actually started to miss Natsume. II missed talking to him, and annoying him, and him annoying me back." I said solemnly. I looked over at Charlie again and to my dismay, he still wasn't paying any attention to me. So yeah, maybe this is what I get for pouring my life story out to some loner cat, but still.

"Well," I said exasperatingly. "One day in late May I found Natsume sitting under a sakura tree. He was crying, and looked awful. My autopilot took over and I ran up to him without thinking. It was that day that I found out that Natsume's mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer before school started, and that she had died merely hours before." I paused and met Charlie's gaze, whom had thankfully stopped licking his perfectly clean paws. "You know, that was the first and only time I had ever Natsume cry."

There was a brief silence where the whole house was silent. Then Charlie opened his mouth really wide and yawned. I could practically feel my jaw drop as low as it would go. After all that. After telling him that I've seen the one and only alpha jerk Natsume cry all the stupid cat could do was yawn? I'm pretty sure I stared at Charlie for good two minutes before soddenly getting up and marching over to the kitchen. I guess I startled Charlie because he bounced up on his paws and ran the opposite direction.

Before you could even say _Charlie is the dumbest cat that ever walked the earth, _my phone was out and Natsume's number had been dialed. It only took four rings to get Natsume to pick up.

"What do you want polka?" Natsume asked in a slightly rude manner.

"Natsume, your dumb cat is being a complete jerk!" I yelled into the phone.

I could hear Natsume moving his phone away from his ear and groaning.

"Well thanks for blowing out my eardrum," Natsume growled.

I inhaled deeply and exhaled as long as I could, being sure to exaggerate my anger.  
"_Fine_ your royal _behind_." I grumbled. "I, being your very loyal employee, have been trying to converse with your cat about some very serious matters and all your stupid cat can do is yawn in my face and lick his furry little paws! It's very disrespectful!" I barked albeit in a softer tone.

There was a brief pause on the other side of the phone in which I could only guess what Natsume was thinking. Then Natsume asked, "And what do you want me to do about it?"

I nearly lost my cool right then and there but managed to hold it together. Good thing too because if I hadn't, I'm pretty sure I would have spent the next five minutes cleaning up the pieces of cell phone off the ground.

"Just help me," I hissed through gritted teeth.

"Alright polka, how about I print you off a long list of contact information for various mental health hospitals and you get back to me when you're not trying to talk to cats," Natsume imposed. Then, without any words of warning, he hung up.

I stared down at my phone for a few seconds then clenched my fist around it.

"Hyuuga! I hate you!" I shrieked. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

I think Charlie heard be because I heard the scampering of paws and saw a streak of grey run past the kitchen and up the stairs.

I let out a sigh and sat down on the cold tile floor. A few minutes ago I had just blamed a loner cat for my anger but now that I thought about it I realised how stupid that was. I wasn't _actually _mad at Charlie, was I? So far my March break had been pretty lonely. Everyone seemed to be off vacationing somewhere. All the girls had basically dumped me and headed up to Permy's cottage yesterday for the rest of the week. And of course, they didn't tell me of their plans until _after_ I had promised Natsume I'd look after his , that probably had something to do with it.

I slide open my phone and opened up my contacts list, searching for anyone who might be around town.

Natsume, hell no. Ruka, he's gone too. Hotaru, she ditched me. Perms, I'll kill her later. Koko…hm, possible. I quickly dialed him up and waited, praying he'd pick up.

"Hello?" A male voice answered.

"Koko? Oh god, I'm so glad you picked up! I'm as lonely as hell and you're literally my only friend!"

"Mikan?"

"Yeah?" I replied.

Suddenly I heard another voice in the background yell, "Jockey!"

"Yo Koko, shutup! Mikan is telling me about her depressing life story over here!"

"Wait a second, you're Kitsuneme aren't you." I said in realization.

"yup. Koko is getting his ass whipped."

"Am not!" Koko yelled.

I grinned and asked, "What game?"

"Left 4 Dead 2."

"That's zombies right?"

"Yup."

"Sweet."

I heard a chorus of laughter from the other end of the phone and a number of muttered curses.

"Nice one dude," Kitsuneme laughed.

"Hey, I'm not the one who startled the witch," Koko protested. I looked down at my fingers and started picking and my fingernails.

"So um guys, you wouldn't mind if I came over, right?" I asked. "I seriously have to leave the Hyuuga den of doom and the lair of the heartless cat."

"Sure thing, although, if don't mind, I'd love to hear more about this den of doom once you get here."

"I'd love to Kitsuneme," I grinned.

"Well then, see you once you get here."

"Yeah, bye!"

I hung up and ran to the front of the house.

"Bye cat! I, unlike you, have a social life to take care of!" I yelled then marched out the front door.

I was feeling better already.

* * *

So, that was definitely was not my best chapter, and it was on the shorter side. But hey, I finally updated! I hope you enjoyed it.


	5. Chapter 5

Tuesday

When I woke up this morning, I felt strangely positive about life. I think spending the previous day with Koko and Kitsuneme had somehow refreshed me in a sense. Though, how I found watching the two boys charge through a horde of zombies while cutting off their limbs with a bloody chainsaw refreshing, I'll probably never understand. But for a lack of better words, I had a good feeling about today. I guess that's why after a couple phone calls with Natsume, standing in a pet store for twenty-five minutes and yelling at a particularly unhelpful store clerk, I found myself walking Natsume's driveway with a bag of tuna flavoured cat treats.

"Hello Charlie!" I sang out loud after banging open the front door and basically pirouetting inside. I ran down the hall and into the mud room, passing by a wary and slightly bewildered tabby in the process.

"Charlie, were going to have so much fun!" I quickly filled both of Charlie's bowls then hurried out of the room and sat on the floor. I watched as Charlie entered the mud room and as he left it a few minutes later.

"Hey Buddy," I said softly. "I brought treats!" I tore open the package and pulled out a small, tuna flavoured cat treat. The things were literally called _Goodie Bites_, something I laughed about for about ten minutes after I bought them. With a flick of my wrist, I sent the treat skidding across the floor. Charlie took a step forward, meowed, then bent down and ate the bite of goodness.

"Good boy!" I cooed. "You see, I'm felt really bad about yesterday so this is my way of apologizing." _Click_, I threw another treat but aimed it closer to me. Charlie followed the same procedure; walk over, meow, then eat. I smile inwardly and placed another treat by my legs. I had been warned by the stupid store clerk not to feed Charlie too many. _Only one more after this _I thought.

I watched happily as Charlie brushed past my leg to consume the treat. "Yeah, you like them don't you?" I asked. Charlie looked up at me expectantly, twitching his ears. I slowly pulled out one more goodie bite and held in out in my palm.

Charlie stared at my hand for a pretty long time. I could practically hear the thoughts running through his brain. _Should I take the yummy thing and approach that wild humanoid, or should I stay here? _However he eventually made up his mind and walked up to me. In seconds the tuna flavoured bite of goodness and joy was no more.

"That's it Charlie. There's no need to be afraid," I said softly. When I saw that Charlie wasn't moving I slowly flipped my hand and placed it gently on his head. Charlie looked up and gave me the strangest look, as if telling me to continue yet staying reproachful. I curled my fingers then stretched them out again, slowly stroking Charlie's head. Charlie ducked his head out of the way and for a second I thought I had done something wrong. But then Charlie sniffed me and rubbed his head against my hand. A smile escaped my lips as I scratched him behind the ears. Charlie was definitely the weirdest cat I had ever met.

"So Charlie, I've officially promoted you from loner cat to actually sort of cool." Yeah, like the fuzz-ball even cared.

"So can we make an agreement? I'll stop expecting you to care about my life and you'll just continue being a cat. Sound fair?" Charlie stretched out, lying down on his paws. I'll just take that as a yes.

"Perfect! So here we go, from where we left off; grade six." I paused for a semi dramatic effect while glancing down at Charlie. "So basically some idiot of a teacher decided that it would be a good idea to split our class that year for _'behavior purposes.'_. Anyway, they did a really horrible job. I was in the 5/6 split with Natsume and Ruka whereas Hotaru was in the 6/7 split with Sumire. I mean seriously, they put Hotaru in a different class then me. _H_o_taru_ for Pete's sake! Thank god we had rotary together. Well, getting back on track, the teachers put Hotaru and Permy in a class of monkeys with hopes that they could knock some sense into the idiots. I think they actually did a pretty good job of it too."

I stopped talking and stared up at the white painted ceiling. The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much had happened that year. There hadn't been anything big or eventful, but rather a bunch of smaller things that made up the school year. I could clearly remember my first real conversation with Natsume (without calling each other names or arguing like little children). We were talking about a science project we had to do with how quickly things decomposed and it somehow trailed off into a conversation about what tampon inserters looked like. I ran completely off pads for the following three months.

That year was also the first time Sumire had ever called me pretty. After one long night of school projects, talking about boys, watching TV and eating junk food, Sumire said that I wasn't _actually _as she said I was in grade four, and that I was actually pretty cool. And that was the night we officially became friends.

Thinking back, I realized I had a lot of firsts that year. It was my first time getting my period, my first time not being in Hotaru's class, and I had even had my first kiss that year. Well, actually, it wasn't a _real _kiss. Both Natsume and I were rounding the same corner. I was traveling significantly faster therefore when we collided; I fell onto him and kind of bit his lip. So as you can see, it doesn't really count.

I guess you could say grade six was the start of some new friendships. I had so many great memories from that year, like Permy's mad woman laugh and Ruka's red ribbon hairband (it's a long story involving Hotaru, blackmail, and a good sum of profit). All in all, it was a hell of a good year.

Suddenly I noticed that Charlie had left me, and that I had been staring up at the ceiling blankly, lost in lala land for a good ten minutes.

_Smooth Mikan, real smooth, _I thought to myself. I smiled faintly, glad that there was no one else around. Eventually I stood up, grabbed the cat treats, walked into Natsume's kitchen and shoved them in one of the cupboards.

As I walked past the living room and toward the door I noticed a fluffy gray ball of fuzz curled up on the couch. The corners of my mouth twitched upward. I was somehow slightly amused by the stupid cat.

"Bye semi cool hairball," I called out. I then opened the door, stepped out, and left.


	6. Chapter 6

Wednesday

"And that's when my grade eight year took a turn for the worse and drove me head first into the cold, hard floor, metaphorically of course." I explained. "The day Luna Koizumi showed up at our classroom door."

I was raging on again about my school life to my usual audience, a grey cat named Charlie. He was stretched out on the floor beside my leg, occasionally rubbing his head against my thigh.

"She was a nightmare, always being controlling and whatnot. I swear I nearly killed her. Of course, Luna immediately hated me for some unknown reason. It's not like I didn't give her a fair shot, I smiled at her when she came it and asked her where she wanted to sit. But then she pointed to my seat and I was like, ok fine, if you really want to sit beside Natsume then go ahead." I ranted. "It was a good thing that everyone was back in one class again; at least I could go sit with Hotaru."

I absentmindedly stroked Charlie's head, relishing the sound of Charlie's soft purring. It still felt weird to hear such an affectionate sound coming from the fur ball. I had spent a large part of the morning bribing Charlie with cat treats and petting him to my heart's content. As strange as it sounded, Charlie was a lot like Hotaru in some ways. Even though they both have a cold exterior, with enough obnoxious happiness and bribing them with food you could find out that they're actually capable of loving people. Scary, I know, but true.

"And then Luna tried turning everyone against me," I continued, perfectly aware that I was basically talking to myself. "She made up the stupidest rumors and made me the laughingstock of her jokes. The freaky thing is, it almost worked. The kids who weren't my close friends started to isolate me and poke fun at me. They sided with Luna because she flaunted the fact that her parents had more money than they needed and she was treated like teenage royalty. It was disgusting."

"Thankfully it didn't last very long. Natsume eventually told her to eff off and leave me alone, which is probably one of the nicest things he ever did. Luna left shortly after that. Apparently her parents moved around a lot for business reasons, or at least, that's what Luna said before she left."

I sighed and looked down at Charlie. He had rolled over onto his back, exposing his soft, furry underside. I couldn't help myself; I reached down and started to rub his belly. To my satisfaction, Charlie responded with a long, deep throated purr.

"Yeah, good boy," I cooed gently. After a few minutes I lost myself in thought, mulling over what I had just said.

Luna had been bad, but if there was anyone who hated her more than me it would probably be Natsume. The girl flaunted over him like he was her own personal property; always asking to be partnered up with Natsume or for Natsume to show her around. It didn't matter how many times Natsume pushed her away, she just came back every time.

At one point the two of them got randomly picked to do a Geography project together. Luna randomly showed up at his house uninvited saying they had arranged 'study time' or something stupid like that. The thing is, I don't think she was expecting to see me there-Aoi wanted to show me her new hamster. She had named it George after her goldfish that had taken an unfortunate trip down the toilet (long story, don't ask). Anyways, Luna practically freaked when she saw me.

"You should have seen her face," I muttered. Wait a minute... "You did! You were there!" I yelled.

Charlie jerked his head up and snapped at my hand. I moved it out of the way just in time, too excited to get angry at Charlie.

"I remember now! Luna tried to pick you up or something and you nearly scratched her eyes out. Oh Charlie, that was amazing!" I exclaimed. Charlie meowed, though, if it was out of annoyance or pride I couldn't tell. Not that I cared or anything.

"You know, I almost felt bad for Luna. It sounded like she never really settled down anywhere, so she never had any real friends. And I know what it's like to be lonely. I hope she's found some actual friends, or at least stopped treating people like she owns them," I paused and thought about my friends. I hadn't actually realized before how lucky I am to have people I can trust and lean on, even if I didn't exactly like some of them in the beginning. That's the strange and wonderful thing about friendship; it strengthens as you gain new experiences, both fun and tough ones.

"Well Charlie, that's the end of my elementary school life. After that I started high school and started down a whole new road. It was rocky at times, but I survived, and now I'm in my second year of high school. But that a story for tomorrow," I said.

Charlie, being a cat, gave no reply. But I knew I'd be back tomorrow, and I could rant as long as I wanted about my slightly interesting teenage life.

"Yeah, I'll be back," I said.

I rose to my feet and walked to the door. I still had some science homework to look forward to when I got home. Yay. Maybe I'd procrastinate and put it off one more day. Yeah, I was putting myself in danger of walking to school on Monday without having completed my homework, but hey, at least I wouldn't have to do it. Yet.

With a sigh of apprehension I stuffed my feet into my sneakers and grabbed my sweater that was hanging off the stairway railing. A few seconds later I had turned the door and swung it open.

"See you tomorrow Charlie," I sang. Then I closed the door and walked down the driveway. The air was a bit cool but the sun was shining, sending warm rays of sunshine down upon me.

Miss Sunshine, I had been called that before. Mainly because I believed that sometimes all you needed was a bit of optimism and sheer determination to get by in life. And it was true, as long as you believed you could fly, you would.


	7. Chapter 7

Thursday

"You know were sorry babe," Sumire said on the phone.

"Don't be," I said. "If anything, blame Natsume. He's the one who made me babysit his cat. Or better yet, blame Charlie for existing in the first place. Or maybe we can just go bang on luck's door and yell at him for a bit."

"Well, at least you don't have to listen to Anna. She's killing Nonoko. Apparently she's wearing Anna's shirt and won't take it off," Sumire explained.

"But don't they share a wardrobe or something?"

"Oh, I don't know, you know how they are."

As if on cue I heard a high pitch screech and a voice yell, "Anna, get off me!"

"Not until you give it back!" the other sister replied.

"I better go," Sumire sighed. "Hotaru is refusing to get up off her lazy backside and I really don't want to have to dispose of a dead body before we leave."

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "All right then, good luck!" I cheered.

"Thanks, love ya, bye."

"Bye."

I felt a twinge of jealousy as I pulled the phone away from my ear.

"No, don't think about it," I muttered. I had been over it already, there was no point feeling jealous at the fact that the girls were up at Permy's cottage, and I was down in Hyuuga's empty house, watching over his slightly emo cat. No point at all.

_Well Mikan, you might as well do your job and feed that sorry little runt. _

With a sigh I headed down the hall and into the mudroom. Charlie was already inside, waiting for me.

"You hungry?" I asked. I walked over to his food bowl and scooped some food into his bowl. Charlie gave a soft meow of thanks, or recognition or something, and then dug in. I sunk down the mudroom wall, stretched out a leg and pulled out my phone from my pocket. I opened up Facebook to check my newsfeed. The top post was Aoi's.

**Miss Aoi**

At Disneyland! It's amazing here, love the people and attractions! Got a Minnie Mouse ears headband, its sooooo cute^^ I forced it on Ruka-pyon, hehe. Are you proud of me Hotaru?

I scrolled through the pictures Aoi had taken. There was one of the front gates, a few of the park itself, a selfie in which Aoi was wearing the Minnie mouse ears with a bow (she looked totally adorable) and finally a picture of a rather annoyed Ruka. It looked like he was trying to take the headband off but failed to do so before Aoi took the picture. I looked down at the comments.

* * *

**Hotaru Imai**

Very

_Today at 5:37 PM-1 like_

**Sumire Permy Shouda**

I thought you were trying to drop the cute image…

_Today at 5:49 PM_

* * *

After Aoi's post were several new posts.

**Sumire Permy Shouda**

Anna, can you please call a truce or something?

_**Like-Comment-Share-30 minutes ago**_

* * *

**Anna Unemomiya**

No way! I spent forever trying to find that shirt!

_Today at 4:22_

**Nonoko Unemomiya**

Oh come on girl, I had it first

_Today at 4:36_

**Nonoko Unemomiya**

Stop trying break down the door!

_Today at 4:42_

**Anna Unemomiya**

Stop hiding in the bathroom!

_Today at 4:47_

* * *

The argument continued in the comment section but I decided not to read the whole thing and instead scrolled down my news feed. Tsubasa announced that his basketball team had placed first in the tournament. I posted my congratulations, making sure to put a smiley face at the end.

To my amusement, I saw that Koko had posted some photos from a couple days ago. The first was a picture of him shoving chips in Kitsuneme face (you can thank moi for the photo), and the second was a picture of myself, vigorously overacting to a rather gory part of the videogame we were playing.

I hit the like button with a faint smile.

Once I finished on Facebook I shoved my phone back into my pocket. When I looked up, I saw that Charlie had finished eating. He was staring up at me with wide eyes, perhaps already in the habit of waiting for me to start talking about my life.

"Hey kiddo," I said softly. I received no response, as usual. "Well, furry head, yesterday I told you about my last year of elementary school, did I not?" Again, Charlie gave no reply.

"Well," I said rather roughly, "last year was my first year of high school. I can still remember the first day like it was yesterday. The nervousness you get when you first walk in, the excitement of getting your own locker, and the amazing feeling of meeting new people. Well, actually, since our town is so small we just have one high school so the only new people you meet are the kids who get bused in from surrounding towns. But that's beside the point. The point is, the first day is filled with a whole bunch of emotions."

I stopped talking for a minute and walked over to Charlie. As I sat down, I reached out a hand, slowly stroking his head.

"You know, High school really isn't as scary as I thought it would be. For one, no one actually shoves people in lockers. Thank god. But unfortunately the only class I had with Hotaru was phys-ed. Oh well, that's just how life works I guess. There are things in life that you can't change; you just have to go along with them, and hope for the best. Right?"

Of course, I was basically asking myself the question since there was no way Charlie was going to answer. But I didn't care. I've been talking to myself for six days, it's not like I was going to stop now.

"You have so much more freedom in High school. You don't always have teachers hanging over your shoulder watching every step you take. You can leave the building during lunch without a note or permission or anything. And the best part? You can walk and eat at the same time. I can't tell you how many times I've been told to sit down during lunch during elementary school."

I smiled as I remembered the numerous times I've had teachers yell at me. There was that time when Sumire dared me to get up and dance in the middle of the classroom. Unfortunately I was interrupted by a teacher before I could finish my performance. And then there was that time when Natsume threw an orange at me and I got up to hit him with a shoe. You can probably guess what happened. Teacher came in, saw that I was not only out of my seat but that I was also hitting someone, and sent me to the principal's office. Not fun.

"Well, you do meet lots of people in High school. I've made so many news friends. Like Anna and Nonoko; they're ridiculously awesome! And Koko and Kitsuneme are two of the coolest guys I've ever met. Not to mention that Tsubasa is an amazing senpai! Honestly, there are way too many people to name all at once," I breathed. It took me a minute to realize I was slightly out of breath. I guess I had been talking rather fast.

"You know, if there was such a thing as cat High, I'm sure you'd love it. You could actually make some friends."

Charlie looked rather unimpressed.

"Oh geesh Charlie, you can't be that anti-social."

Apparently he could. I sighed and rubbed the back of Charlie's head. The past week had been sort of up and down for us. We were able to move past the _running away from your sitter _stage to _sort of listening to what she has to say _to finally _actually being able to make physical contact without scratching people's eyes out. _I had to admit, it was a pretty satisfying. Yeah, I said a few things I probably shouldn't have (plus I kind of yelled a bit). The good thing is, Charlie's just a cat, he can't understand what I say.

"Well Charlie, I think it's time for me to get going. See you later fur ball."

I stood up and walked out of the mudroom. As I walked down the hall, I heard the sound of twinkling bells. I looked back over my shoulder and to my amassment, saw that Charlie was following me to the door. A smile broke out across my face.

"Bye Charlie," I cooed.

I shoved my shoes on and opened the door. I took one last look back at Charlie then turned around and walked out the door.

* * *

**Hey guys,** I know it's been a while, but I've been busy. I went down to the states a few weeks ago and school just started for me this week. But i'm glad I was able to update. And I just realised yesterday that the next chapter will be the last one. Wow, it's kind of hard to believe that it's almost over... Well, I've still got my other fanfic, Hunting Blood in progress. And don't worry, there's still quite a few chapters to come for that one. Pus I have so many ideas for future stories it's kinds crazy.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter,

~RC~


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